Winding indicator for talking machines



. Nov 13 1923.

' Il,473,2 L. A. FREEDMAN WINDING INDICATOR FOR TALKING MACHINES Original Filed Jan. 22, 1920 zsheets-sheet 1 HHHIHIHMI] J5. a" 1 5 "5 I Nov. 13,1923. 11,473,929

4L. FREEDMAN WINDING INDICATOR FOR TALKING MACHINES Original Filed Jan. 22, 1920. 2 Sheets-Sheet 3 .lli .5 5

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Patented Nov. 113, i923.

rarsur LOUIS A. FREEIDMAN, OF. NEW/V YORK, N. Y.

WINDING INDICATOR FOB TALKING MACHINES.

Application filed January 22, 1920, Serial No. 353,308. Renewed March 31, 1923.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that 1, Louis A. Fnnnormn, a citizen of the United States and a resident of the city, county, and State of New York,

have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in 'W'inding Indicators for Talking Machines, of which the following is a specification.

The object of this invention is to provide an indicating device which can be readily attached to or incorporated into the construction of the ordinary or well known form of talking machine or phonograph, by which the user of the same can note at a glance.

whether or not the spring motor of the talking machine needs winding or can tell exactly how much the motor is wound while the winding operation is going on, so that overwinding and consequent breaking of the spring is avoided. By the use of my improved indicating device premature winding of the spring motor is obviated. A further object of this invention is to provide an indicating device of this character which will permit the user of a talking machine to wind up the spring motor while the machine is in operation without in any way interfering with the operation of the indicating device. 7

With these objects and other objects which may hereinafter appear, in view, I have devised the particular arrangement of parts hereinafter set forth, and more particularly pointed out in the claims appended hereto.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming part hereof, in which Figure 1 is a side elevation, partly in section, of the phonograph driving mechanism to which my improved winding indicating mechanism is attached;

Figure 2 is a side elevation, partly in section, of the connection for the flexible shaft that drives the indicating needle;

Figure 3 is a plan view of the indicating dial;

f Figure t is a sectional view; on the line 41 of Figure 1, looking in the direction of the arrows and with the cover plate of the gear casing removed;'

Figure 5 is a vertical sectional view of the gear casing;

Figure 6 is an end view of the gear cas and.

Figure 7 is a side elevation shaft.

Throughout the various views of the drawings, similar reference characters designate similar parts.

in the preferred embodiment of my invention, 1 indicates the table or platform of an ordinary style bf talking machine. Dependmg from the under side of the platform 1 is a bracket 2 which forms a part of the frame of the spring motor and which is provided at its lower end with a bearing 3, and is also provided at its upper end with a bearing 4L. in these hearings 3 and d is rotatably mounted a spindle 5 upon which is fixed the rotatable turn-table 6 upon which the record rests. At 7 is shown the ordinary sound box and at 8 is the usual sound box arm.

The lower end of the spindle 5 is in the form of a worm as at 9, and this worm 9 is engaged and rotated by a worm gear 10, said worm gear being rotatably mounted upon the main spring shaft or arbor llof the machine. This main spring shaft or arbor 11 is rotatably mounted at one of its ends in the bracket 2, the other end of this shaft being supported by the customary bracket not shown. Fixed to the worm gear 10 by means of rivets 10 is the spring motor casing 11 which contains the ordinary form of spring motor in which the outer end of the spring is secured to the casing 11 by the rivets 19f.

T he outer end of the spring is secured to the motor casing 11 as above mentioned, and rotates said casing, thereby rotating the worm gear 10 which in turn drives the worm 9 and thus rotates the turntable 6 upon which the record rests.

Mounted and fixed upon the main spring shaft or arbor 11 is a ratchet 12 engaged by a pawl 13 held in contact with the ratchet 12 by means of a spring i l. By the pawl 13 and ratchet 12 backward rotation of the inner end of the spring motor is prevented. The inner or central end of the spring motor is secured to the main spring shaft 11 in the usual or customary manner. The foregoing describes the usual type of spring motor in which one end of the spring is fastened centrally to the power receiving or winding mechanism handle and the opposite or outer end of the main spring is fastened to the power delivery or unwinding end which drives the worm gear 10 to rotate the record.

of the gear 65 Fixed upon the spring shaft or arbor 11 is a gear 15 which meshes with a gear 16 mounted above it upon a winding handle shaft 17. This shaft 17 is rotatably mounted in the bracket 2, said bracket being provided with an ear 18 on which is an integrally formed bearing '19. The winding shaft 17 constitutes the winding shaft of the device on which the winding handle 20 of the talking machine is attached.

The above mentioned parts all constitute mechanism found on an ordinary phono graph, and form no part of my invention.

A part of my improved indicating mechanism is a casing The casing 21 comprises a lower member 22 in which suitable gearing to be described is mounted. The (asing 22 is provided with a lateral car 23, and is also provided with a projecting portion 24 having a laterally extending bearing 25, and another laterally extending split bearing 26. The bearing 26 is a split bearing, one-half of which is formed upon the lower portion 22 of the casing, the other half 27 being connected to the part 26 by screws 29 to form the complete bearing. The hearing formed of the parts 26 and 27 is mounted to encircle the winding shaft 17 and also fixed onsaid shaft 17 is a worm30 which is mounted in a laterally projecting bearing 31 formed on the casing 22. The worm 30 is provided with a collar 32 through which apin 33 passes to secure the worm fast upon the shaft 17. The cover plate 28 forms the upper half of the bearing 31.

Onthe opposite sideof the casing 22 is another worm 34 mounted in the bearing 23, and which is mounted at a position adjacent to the bottom of the casing 22, and said worm is secured upon a shaft 35 which is mounted in the bearing 25 on the casing 22. Secured on the end of the shaft 35 is a gear 36 which meshes with and is rotated by the worm gear 10.

A cover plate 28 of the casing is provided with a bearing 37 and the bottom of the cas ing 22 is provided with a like hearing 38. Mounted in these hearings isa cross-arm shaft 39 which is provided with a pair of integrally formed, laterally extenitling side 1 arms '40. Loosely mounted upon the shaft 39 are a pair of worm gears 41 and 42. The worm gear 41 engages the'worm 30 and is driven thereby while the worm gear 42 engages the worm 34 and is drivenby said worm. Fixed on the worm gear 41and preferably formed integral therewith is a bevel gear 143 an'dalike bevel gear 44 is fixed on or for'mcd integral with the worm gear 42.

On the lateral arms 40 ofthe shaft 39 are loosely mounted bevel gears 45 and 46 which continuously mesh with the bevel gears 43 and'44, as shown 1n Figure 5.

Theworm gears 41 and'42 are mounted loosely upon the shaft 39 while the bevel attached shaft 35 will be rotating.

gears 45 and 46 are likewise loosely mounted upon the arms 40 of the shaft 39. The shaft 39 projects out of the casing 22 and below the bottom of the same, and said shaft 39 is secured to a flexible shaft 47 which is provided at its ends with sockets 48 and 49, the socket 48 being secured to one end of the shaft 39 by means of a pin 50. The flexible shaft 47 may be of any desired form, but is preferably in the nature of a continuous coil spring, which extends to a spindle 51 to which the socket 49 is attached by means of a pin 52. The spindle 51 is mounted in bearings 53 and 54 fixed below and above the platform or table 1 of the machine, respectively. The spindle 51 passes through the platform 1 and secured upon the upper end of said spindle is an indicating hand or needle 55, below which is secured, upon the face of the platform 1, a dial This dial 56 is preferably provided with a number of spaced numerals, the numerals being placed. at proper distances apart to indicate the windings required to play a record. Thus, when through the medium of the mechanism above described, the hand is moved to the numeral 1, one record has been played, and the numeral 2 on the dial indicates that two records of a certain arbitrary diameter have been played, and'so on.

From the foregoing, the operation of my improved mechanism will be readily understood.

VVhile the machine is in operation, and a record is being played, the'gear 36 and its The worm 34 beingfixed upon this shaft thus drives the worm gear 42 and its attached bevel gear 44. The bevel gear 44 being formed integral with or secured to the worm gear 42, is rotated with said worm gear and it thus rotates the bevel gears 45 and 46, the worm gear 41 with its attached bevel gear 43 remaining stationary and the bevel gears 44. 45 and 46 rotating around it. This rotation of the bevel gears 45 and 46 causes a rotation of the shaft 39 which thus causes rotation of the flexible shaft 47 and a com sequent rotation of the spindle 51 and indicatinghand which indicates the unwinding of the spring motor upon the dial 56. The gears are of such dimension that they properly'cause the'indicating hand 55 to indicate upon the dial the amount of the windings coincident with the amount that they have been rotated.

back to the zero: position which will indicate :that the motoris fully wound, the handle 20 is rotated in the usual manner to wind the phone-graph.v As the worm '30 is secured upon the winding shaft 17 the .same as the winding handle-20, this worm is consequently rotated with the shaft 17. The-worm 30 when thus rotated causes rotation of the worm gear a1 and its attached bevel gear 43 winch rotates withit the bevel gears: s5

and -16, the worm gear 42 remaining stationary. When the bevel gears t?) and are that the maximum amount of winding has been given to the motor, and thus ceases winding.

By the arrangement of the gear mechanism heretofore described, the motor may be wound up by manipulation of the handle 20 and the machine playing at the same time. In a case of this kind, if the winding up process is progressing at the same speed as the unwinding of the motor, the indicating hand 55 will remain in a stationary position. If, while the record is playing, the winding up process is proceeding faster than. the unwinding process, the indicating hand will be progressing backward and approaching towards zero, and ii the unwinding is taking place faster than the winding up process, the indicating hand will so show this fact.

From the foregoing, it is obvious that my invention is not to be restricted to the exact embodiment, shown, but is broad enough to cover all structures coming within the scope of the annexed claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

l. A device of the class described comprising a. motor, awinding shaft therefor,

gear driven by said motor, said gear having a projecting shaft extending larallel with the winding shaft, a gear casing surrounding both of said shafts, a worm secured to each of said shafts within the casing, an indicator, differential gearing within the casing driven in one direction by rotation oi? the winding shaft and in an opposite di rection by the motor-driven shaft and a connection between said gearing and the indi cator.

2. device of the class described comprising an indicating device having a dial, a hand driven thereover; differential gearing for driving said hand, a gear case containiug said gearing, a pair of bearings mounted in said case, a motor driven shaft extending through said. case and mounted in'one of said bearings, a winding shalt extending through said case and mounted in the other bearing and means on said shafts for driving the gearing in opposite directions.

Signed at the city, county and State of New York, this 22nd day of January, 1920.

LOUIS A. FREEDMAN. 

